Flesh and Word

Flesh and Word
By Jonathan Bennett


In the ending, there are only your words.
No arms that can embrace me when I reach;
No body to rest mine against at table.
Only words spoken as you left me, us,
Which are already lost on evening's breath.
And this, in your great wisdom, should suffice?
Can these words heal me when I have fallen
Into the dusty earth to be trampled.
Can they show the love I've seen in your eyes
When I left fam'ly and friend far behind?
Can mere words touch me the same as your hands
When the Night comes again to surround?
                                                                 No.


You have abandoned the one who you loved.
This time there'll be no empty sepulcher,
No news astonishing from the women.
You have gone to sit in some paradise
Where no high mountain, no ladder can reach.
You cursed me for timeless separation
Until you decide to return again.
And you never said a word of goodbye.
You have deprived me of my heart's desire,
The only presence I have ever craved.
You have left me longing with only words
That, somehow, are to take the place of
                                                             You.